Weld steps up precautions after four infant sleep suffocations in 2012

Safe sleep

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers the following suggestions to help prevent infant suffocation:

» Adults or other children should not share a bed with an infant while sleeping.

» Room-sharing with parents is recommended, but not bed-sharing. While parents may want to comfort or feed a baby in bed, the infant should be placed in a safety-approved crib, bassinet, or play crib for sleeping.

» Devices such as wedges or bumpers promoted to make bed-sharing “safe” are not recommended.

» Parents and care-givers should avoid at all times placing an infant on excessively soft surfaces such as water beds, sofas and arm chairs.

» Newborns and infants should be placed on their backs for sleeping.

» The AAP discourages putting pillows, quilts, comforters and other soft items under an infant or in a crib because these items may cause suffocation.

» To prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the AAP also recommends breastfeeding and protecting infants from exposure to tobacco smoke and parental drug and alcohol use.

To learn more about ways to prevent infant suffocation deaths, please visit www.weldhealth.org

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Weld County is stepping up safety precautions following four accidental infant suffocation deaths in 2012, up from none in 2011.

Four infants between the ages of 1 to 4 months died due to unsafe sleeping conditions when an adult bed was shared with them, according to a Monday news release.

Weld County Coroner Mark Ward has not seen any infant suffocations since the last death on Nov. 20, but he said he is concerned that four such deaths in one year is out of the ordinary for Weld County.

“Every number is large when you’re talking about infant deaths,” Ward said. “To that family that is the only number.”

The Weld County departments of Public Health and Environment, Human Services and Coroner’s Office are unifying public-outreach efforts to address the issue in a new Safe Sleep campaign.

“We’re going to be looking at different avenues we can access young parents and new parents at hospitals and service programs to educate them on the dangers of bed sharing,” said Kathi Brown, prevention services manager at Weld County Human Services.

Following the second death, Human Services began distributing literature on safe sleep techniques.

“All of us in the community have a role to play in ensuring that children and infants are safe,” director of Human Services Judy Griego said in the release.

The Department of Public Health and Environment is similarly reaching out to the health care community.

“Education on everyone’s part — doctors, nurses, parents, day care providers — is crucial in reducing these tragic accidents,” health department director Mark Wallace said in a news release.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that supine positioning and a firm sleep surface be used for children and infants younger than the age of 1. Until then, soft bedding, pillows, stuffed animals and blankets should not be introduced to a child’s sleeping area as these can cause suffocation.

“Parents may want to make a crib look nice by adding pillows and stuffed animals,” Wallace said. “But these items can be dangerous for an infant who may get tangled in or under such items.”

Although bed-sharing is not child abuse, according to Brown, the Safe Sleep campaign will officially launch in April, Child Abuse Prevention Month.